Disbursement Follows Record Fourth Quarter And Full-Year Earning Statement

Employees of Alaska Air Group companies Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air are receiving $100 million in bonuses today, following Wednesday's record fourth quarter and record full-year earnings announcement. For most employees, this equates to more than 8 percent of their annual pay in 2016.

The company's annual bonus, called Performance Based Pay (PBP), is determined by meeting or exceeding specific company-wide goals for safety, customer satisfaction, cost control and profit. For the eighth year in a row, employees will enjoy a payout of about an additional month's pay.

"We know it is our incredibly hard-working employees who truly make our airline the best in the industry, and we're thrilled to be able to say thank you with a bonus for outstanding performance," said Alaska Airlines CEO Brad Tilden.

The PBP bonus is in addition to the approximately $15 million in 2016 operational bonuses that employees earned for achieving monthly on-time and customer satisfaction goals. The combined monthly and annual 2016 bonuses paid to employees totals $115 million.

Geographic breakdown:

• About $62 million in annual bonuses — more than 60 percent of the total — is being paid to Alaska and Horizon employees in the Puget Sound area
• $14 million is being paid to employees in the Portland, Oregon area
• $9 million is going to employees throughout the state of Alaska
• $9 million is going to employees throughout the state of California

Starting this year, Virgin America employees are included in Alaska's PBP program. Alaska closed its acquisition of Virgin America in December 2016, with the goal of creating a national footprint and an unparalleled capability to serve the traveling needs of people living on the West Coast.

(Source: Alaska Airlines news release. Image from file)

FMI: www.alaskaair.com